The One Where Everyone Dies

First off, so I don't bury the lede: Today my five-day moving average weight was under 290 lbs for the first time since I started this project. Can I get a what what? I am mightily pleased. On a day-to-day basis it seems like nothing is happening, and then I look at the chart and hit this kind of milestone, and I am re-invigorated.

Anyway, getting back to The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve... so, um, there was a massacre.

The back half of the story was just as strong as the front half, and the climax of the story managed to truly shock. Even knowing historically what was coming, I didn't really expect a prolonged sequence highlighting the violence and bloodshed at the ending. It is painful to know that basic religious intolerance hasn't changed much in the past half millennium. One doesn't have to look any further than the evening news to see the same dynamics playing out today.

I think I have been fairly clear that I am not much of a fan of the First Doctor. I constantly refer to him as being a waspish prick because, well, he is. But I have to give William Hartnell his props for the denouement of this story. After sending away a young girl who has befriended Steven, knowing full well that he is almost certainly sending her to her death, the Doctor and Steven flee Paris just before the wave of bloodshed begins. When Steven realizes the full impact of what has happened, he is furious with the doctor for not saving Anne, and he demands to leave at the next stop. And indeed he does. As soon as the TARDIS materializes he strides out the door with no intention of ever returning. And then... then William Hartnell gives a truly heartbreaking performance, finding himself alone. He laments the deaths of Katarina and Sara Kingdom, he bemoans the departures of Ian and Barbara, and of Vicki, and now Steven. He is crushed and depleted, contemplating returning to his home world but knowing he can't. It is a truly heartbreaking moment.

And then Dodo comes rushing in, mistaking the TARDIS for an actual police box, seeking help for a little boy who has been hit by a car. Not long after, Steven comes rushing back in to tell the Doctor that two police men are approaching. And the Doctor, being a waspish prick, closes the doors and dematerializes the TARDIS, bringing Dodo along for the ride without any thought at all. When Steven calls him on it, the Doctor is back into his regular mode of being a sanctimonious ass, and all memory of that exquisite moment of reflection is washed away. Figures.